Content
- Elderberries - fruits of extremes - so incredibly versatile
- When will elderberries be harvested?
- Which harvesting technique is recommended?
- The most important nutritional values
- How to cook elderberries tasty
- Berries juice for the vitamin kick
- Freeze properly for a long shelf life
- Elderberries dry in the oven and dehydrator
- Tips
Elderberries are very healthy
Elderberries - fruits of extremes - so incredibly versatile
They thrive wildly on the wayside or under the caring hand of the hobby gardener. Elderberry has been surrounding a mystical touch for generations. Tart in the taste, very healthy, but sometimes poisonous. Immerse yourself in a fascinating diversity.
When will elderberries be harvested?
In the garden, elderberries are ready for harvest a little earlier than in the wild. Thus, the maturation period extends from August to September. Visually, the fruits signal their maturity by being completely colored.
The berries of black elder present in violet-black, without any red nuance. The same applies to the fruit hanging of the blue elder. The fruits of the red elderberry, known as deer holly, no longer have greenish spots.
Which harvesting technique is recommended?
In earlier years, elderberry juice was used to dye clothes, hair and food. As a result, protection of hands and clothing during harvest is indispensable. The following procedure has proven itself:
Do not be tempted to snack on the raw berries while picking. In the worst case you have to pay for it with bad abdominal pain and severe nausea. The cause is the content of poisonous sambunigrin, which decomposes only by heating.
The most important nutritional values
Elderberries are rich in provitamin A and contain various B vitamins in abundant amounts. In addition, they score with these values per 100 grams:
How to cook elderberries tasty
Undoubtedly, the fruits of the elderberry are endowed with a bitter, bitter taste. Without a generous portion of sugar, therefore, hardly a recipe succeeds. Since in the same move the poison content is only dissolve by heating, boil-in jam is the most popular preparation. This is how it works:
The hot mixture is filled into sterilized screw jars, which must be turned upside down for at least 10 minutes.
Berries juice for the vitamin kick
If you have a juicer at your disposal, the appliance quickly turns your fresh elderberry into refreshing, healthy vitamin juice. To do this, fill the bottom of the pot with water and add 400 grams of sugar to the juice collector. Of the cleaned berries, add 2 kilos to the strainer. Juicing takes 50 minutes.
About 5 minutes before the end of the procedure, take half a liter of juice and pour it over the remaining berries from the top. How to create a uniform concentration. Finally, the hot elderberry juice comes in bottles, which are immediately closed tight. Diluted with mineral water, the juice tastes particularly refreshing.
Freeze properly for a long shelf life
Loving care usually ends up in a luscious harvest at elderberry. If not all elderberries can be processed immediately, sometimes a certain time pressure arises. All elderberry species tend to throw off their fruit hangings along with the leaves dress in the fall. To bridge the time to preparation, freezing is a viable solution. Here's how to do it:
In the last step, close the bags as airtight as possible and pack everything in the freezer. Incidentally, the cold does not decompose the poisonous ingredient, so later the thawed elderberries are to be cooked before consumption.
Elderberries dry in the oven and dehydrator
The traditional art of drying is back in the foreground, because no one wants to treat its fruit crop with chemical preservatives. The small berries of the elderberry are the ideal candidates to preserve them naturally by deliberate withdrawal of the water.
In the oven, the plan succeeds by spreading the washed fruits on a baking sheet. With a top and bottom heat of 50 degrees Celsius, the drying process takes a little longer compared to circulating air. If you do not want to block the oven for a long time, use a special dehydrator. It is equipped with heating, a fan and several screens. The elderberries are dehydrated at 60-70 degrees Celsius.
Tips
Not only the berries are suitable for consumption, but also elderflower. Freshly picked and dipped in pancake batter, bake the flowers in pork fat. The regional specialty is served under the name 'Hollerküchle'.